1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle driven by fuel-cell or battery including a fuel cell that generates electric power with use of hydrogen as fuel, that is called hereinafter “fuel-cell vehicle” for the sake of convenience.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel-cell vehicle is equipped with a fuel-cell system. In the fuel-cell system, a fuel gas such as a hydrogen gas and a reaction gas such as air are supplied to a fuel cell, in which electrochemical reaction is caused to thereby generate an electric power.
The electric power generated by the fuel cell system is supplied to a motor, and when the motor is driven, a wheel (wheels) is driven via a power transmission mechanism.
The fuel-cell vehicle of this kind includes a fuel-cell two-wheeled vehicle such as motorcycle and a tricycle in which a fuel cell system formed by a fuel cell and a fuel tank is mounted on a vehicle body frame (see Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open publication No. 2010-235071) and Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-47482).
The invention described in Patent Document 1 is the fuel-cell vehicle in which a pair of left and right fuel tanks are equipped so as to be exposed to the upper portions on both sides in the front side of a vehicle body frame, and a radiator is disposed so as to protrude on both sides of a fuel cell that is provided in a central portion of the vehicle body frame.
However, the radiator does not have sufficient mechanical and physical strength, and therefore, does not always provide a sufficient function of protecting the fuel cell at the time of falling down. In addition, the fuel tank is exposed on both sides at the upper portion of the front of the vehicle body frame, and therefore, the fuel tank is liable to be easily damaged at the time of falling down.
Furthermore, in the fuel-cell two-wheeled vehicle (called “motorcycle” hereinafter) described in Patent Document 2, a fuel cell and a fuel tank are mounted on the lower portion of the front of a vehicle body, and in such mounting structure, the fuel cell and the valve of the fuel tank as precision instruments need to be protected from scattered stones during traveling and impact at the time of falling down. In order to protect the fuel cell and the valve of the fuel tank, it is necessary for the cover member covering the vehicle body lower portion to be made large and strong with high rigidity, thus providing a problem leading to increase in the vehicle weight of a fuel-cell motorcycle.